Recommending Story-first games

[camube]

How sandboxy is Arson Betrayal? Most of the time I cant get into them.

not very. i would say not at all even.

Being a DIK as a comparison, has far more sandbox elements. Honestly, it's mostly linear.
I wouldn't even remember Arson Betrayal being a sandbox if you didn't ask. That's how little the sandbox elements is.

 

[Impious Monk]

Mad World suffers mostly from an insane break in development. It was a good game last I played it which was.... well over a year ago at this point. I know a new update came out, and I just haven't been able to bring myself to care enough to check it out - honestly the biggest reason is simply it's been so long that I forgot most of it, and would have to reply so much that I keep feeling like I just don't have the time for that.

I do wonder why more devs don't have a "last time on this game" type of recap for each new release. It only take a half-hour to put together and it fixes a major problem with following these games.

In other news, I just announced a new game on my Patreon! (Nothing public yet. I haven't actually named the game yet, I'm waiting until I come up with a name before a public announcement. That will be sometime in the next month, or week, or however long it takes me to settle on a good name). I know one thing though.... jufot will hate it, seeing as it's main setting is a college......

Congratulations! Sometimes I fantasize about finishing my game and starting a second one... I also sometimes fantasize about winning the lottery or marrying Cindy Crawford.

 

[Tulrek]

Agreed, I liked it too.

Spoiler: Some thoughts

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What are you talking about ?
What are these ?

 

[bacienvu88]

What are you talking about ?
What are these ?

Price of Power includes segments that are the equivalent of slideshow presentations (Powerpoint etc.).

 

[Tulrek]

Price of Power includes segments that are the equivalent of slideshow presentations (Powerpoint etc.).

Thanks M8 now you said it it is obvious !

 

[jufot]

On an entirely different beat, what does everyone think of Our Red String and its numerous pairings?

My Ian is a bit of a bad boy. He's casually seeing Cherry who, despite hurting Lena, isn't a bad person. You don't choose who you fall in love with, and the whole situation with Axel was a shitshow, but I don't think it's reason enough to write her off. I like her dynamic with Ian because they are both trying to get over someone and they know that the best way to do it is to get under someone else For something more long-term, my Ian has declared his love to Cindy. She is a tad vain and superficial, but she has real anxieties about what she wants out of life, and Wade's slobbish and carefree ways fall short of her expectations. The biggest attraction here is obviously a taste of the forbidden fruit, and I'm really looking forward to the fallout among their friend group once this inevitably comes out

My Lena, on the other hand, is a lot more even-keeled. She casually messes around with Ivy, a safe harbour without ulterior motives, unlike almost anyone else in her life. She resists Ivy's corrupting influence (stalkfap, random hookups etc.) while still maintaining the friendship. Still, my favourite pairing in the game is Lena & Holly. I love their stark contrast and similarities. Holly is a shy, plain Jane bookworm as opposed to Lena's confident, extroverted nude model. But they are also in the same boat, treading carefully in sexually uncharted waters. Neither is a lesbian nor really bi. It's just them, without the need for labels. Their dynamic is a joy to experience.

So, what about you folks? How do you play the game?

 

[Canto Forte]

HAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHA!

Spoiler: Missed the whole point of the plot, there, gamer:

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[Tulrek]

On an entirely different beat, what does everyone think of Our Red String and its numerous pairings?

My Ian is a bit of a bad boy. He's casually seeing Cherry who, despite hurting Lena, isn't a bad person. You don't choose who you fall in love with, and the whole situation with Axel was a shitshow, but I don't think it's reason enough to write her off. I like her dynamic with Ian because they are both trying to get over someone and they know that the best way to do it is to get under someone else For something more long-term, my Ian has declared his love to Cindy. She is a tad vain and superficial, but she has real anxieties about what she wants out of life, and Wade's slobbish and carefree ways fall short of her expectations. The biggest attraction here is obviously a taste of the forbidden fruit, and I'm really looking forward to the fallout among their friend group once this inevitably comes out

My Lena, on the other hand, is a lot more even-keeled. She casually messes around with Ivy, a safe harbour without ulterior motives, unlike almost anyone else in her life. She resists Ivy's corrupting influence (stalkfap, random hookups etc.) while still maintaining the friendship. Still, my favourite pairing in the game is Lena & Holly. I love their stark contrast and similarities. Holly is a shy, plain Jane bookworm as opposed to Lena's confident, extroverted nude model. But they are also in the same boat, treading carefully in sexually uncharted waters. Neither is a lesbian nor really bi. It's just them, without the need for labels. Their dynamic is a joy to experience.

So, what about you folks? How do you play the game?

I love to play "all" paths possible like in GGGB.
My favorites pairings are:
Ian - Lena (Pure love)
I love Ian - Emma as sex buddys
Ian - Cherry + Lena - Holly (As you)
Ian - Cindy + Lena slut - Axel - Seymour
Ian - Holly
Would love, as a lot of gamers, the trio Lena - Holly - Ian

 

[bacienvu88]

On an entirely different beat, what does everyone think of Our Red String and its numerous pairings?

I played it a fair amount a year ago (chapter 9), but haven't played since. And I think I'm going to wait a bit more so it feels more worth it to really get into it.

As for pairings. For Ian I prefer Allison. Lena really has a dearth of reasonable options. All of the male options except possibly Ian (depending on how you play Ian) are some sort of scumbag and not people for a long term relationship. But as you say Lena x Holly is interesting.

And speaking of Eva Kiss, I have been playing around with GGGB recently. And in some ways I like it better than ORS. And even if there are a lot of bad people Ash gets entangled with, at least Ash has several decent options for boyfriends.

 

[realjitter]

When I played it the first time I actually went with Ian + Lena, but it felt a little awkward playing like that. Like, what's the point of playing a monogamous I+L route in a game like this?.

Anyway, on my second run Ian went with Alision first, but I somehow wasn't feeling it. Just in general, i'm having a hard time understanding Ian and who he is, what he wants, etc .. I mean, sure, he wants to fuck and he likes to make "his girls" "his" through the power of his mighty dick which is always written in an entertaining way and all, but I still have a hard time grasping what Ian wants, dunno why. Well, at least until he gets it on with Cindy. Here it actually felt like that they have a connection (to me at least). So yeah, it's probably going to be Cindy to the end even though you have to break up a relationship to make that happen..

With Lena I went first for her roommate (forgot her name) for purely selfish reasons ("lezdom"). Normally that'd be enough and I'd never switch because of it no matter what happens!!! . But what do you know, she turned out to be a total "bitch" in the way she treats the other roommate (Stan). Not that I care much about that guy, but still. It was enough for me to actually drop her route which saddens my heart a little . Now Lena's with Holly and, just like jufot, I really like it. I'd even say it's my favourite route from the ones i've seen so far (which aren't that many). The guys just weren't an option for me. Robert and Axel are just a hard pass and Ian + Lena, like I already mentioned, feels weird playing like that unless you "roleplay" that route in a specific way I guess.

So yeah, pretty fun AVN and what I like most about it is that it feels so dynamic while playing. Your decisions usually force some kind of a reaction from the game, sometimes even multiple which is pretty awesome. It's like a less crazy, but more complex version of GGGB imo. Gotta check out some other routes when I have the time.. I still didn't come around to read Three rules oif life yet which sux....

 

[camube]

So, what about you folks? How do you play the game?

I have a canon for Ian but I don't have a canon for Lena, at least not yet.

This is a really interesting topic because, due to how ORS entire game is construct, ORS is one of the few games where I play the MC as if the MC is "me" instead of experiencing the story from a third-party observer perspective that I usually do.

Because who is "Ian"? lol
There is no "Ian" without my direct intervention so, I had to play Ian as me.
And Ian as me doesn't even cross path with Minerva, lol.

I don't have a canon Lena playthrough, at least not yet because playing "as" Lena is harder due to Lena's current options.
bacienvu88 is right. Lena's hetero option is limited.

I wouldn't date Robert as myself.
"me" as Lena doesn't even get to know Mike because he has a girlfriend and Lena got betrayed by Axel.
Seymour is an interesting choice for Lena but "me as Lena", I'm really not into Seymour.
Axel is just red flag everywhere.

So I don't have canon for Lena.

Ian's canon is pretty easy, Lena. And if Lena is not interested (say i don't control Lena I only control Ian), then nobody. Cuz in-game, Cindy is taken.
But since I also control Lena, the pairing becomes Ian x Lena canon from Ian's side.

But as I said I don't have canon Lena, but I have a guess if I replay (which I intend to do), my canon Lena would be vastly different than canon Ian.

Because Lena got fucked by life. Ian is a comfortable middle class person, if not pampered.

If I were in Lena's position I'd probably acts differently than Ian?
I don't know maybe. I need to re-read Lena's internal thoughts before making a canon run (hence the replay).

I do know for sure that my opinion of Lena's life is that she got screwed by life's lottery.
I don't know how I would canonically play Lena if I have Lena's life.

Ian's is a far easier canon playthrough

 

[EndlessNights]

Alison is my favorite LI for Ian in ORS. I love how she refuses to play the game of pretending to be a perfect person who only has attractive and lovable qualities. She is who she is and wants Ian to take her as she comes. If work's on her mind, she'll go ahead and complain about it. If she wants Ian's attention, she'll make that clear and try to get it even at the risk of seeming a little rude. She of course won't let not being able to cook stop her from making a meal for her man. At the same time, she accepts Ian as he is too. If he needs to vent or complain, she listens and commiserates.

I find a kind of coziness and comfort in their interactions that I really enjoy. I think the people you can freely talk to about anything without being judged tend to make the best lovers or friends while the people you have to always be at your best for to keep interested and engaged make the worst. Sometimes you do just need to rant about work to or talk about something stupid with someone. I'm glad Ian and Alison can be that person for each other.

I also think Ian's paths with Holly and Lena are quite good. I like that they're both artists like him who get the struggles and the joys inherent to the creative process. Ian seems to be really good for Holly: he helps build up her confidence and make her feel more secure in herself. As for Lena and Ian, they're in a unique position to understand one another because they are in such similar places in life. They're both creative, financially struggling millennials with hearts wounded by betrayal. They couldn't hope to find a better person to understand them better and help them heal...it's almost as if they're bound together by the red string of fate or some stupid nonsense like that. The awkward thing about pairing Ian and Lena is that the player controls both of them so it feels a bit like you're just making the dolls kiss. Still, it's a well-written route, and sometimes playing with dolls can be fun.

There's a real shortage of romantic Lena paths as I've mentioned before. I play her route with Louise and have always liked their dynamic together, but even their route has become strangely more about BDSM than anything else. I wanted them to help each other heal after they'd both been hurt so badly by their previous partners in similar ways, but it feels more like they're just having fun with each other even though Louise would like more. There tends to be lots of hot and casual sex on Lena's routes but very little in the way of feelings particularly on Lena's side. Sometimes it feels to me like she's fated to have to face all her problems alone no matter how many lovers she picks up along the way. I haven't played a Lena-Holly path yet so I'm still a bit hopeful for it, and I could never bring myself to put her back with Axel since that seems like a straight-up abusive relationship.

 

[jufot]

Alison is my favorite LI for Ian in ORS.

Insightful as always. You've convinced me to give the Alison route a shot

There's a real shortage of romantic Lena paths

Agreed. Nearly every LI for Lena has undesirable/abusive qualities. Definitely give Lena & Holly a try. It's similar to Ian & Holly, but with the added complications of a first-time same-sex relationship.

 

[camube]

Alison is my favorite LI for Ian in ORS. I love how she refuses to play the game of pretending to be a perfect person who only has attractive and lovable qualities. She is who she is and wants Ian to take her as she comes. If work's on her mind, she'll go ahead and complain about it. If she wants Ian's attention, she'll make that clear and try to get it even at the risk of seeming a little rude. She of course won't let not being able to cook stop her from making a meal for her man. At the same time, she accepts Ian as he is too. If he needs to vent or complain, she listens and commiserates.

I find a kind of coziness and comfort in their interactions that I really enjoy. I think the people you can freely talk to about anything without being judged tend to make the best lovers or friends while the people you have to always be at your best for to keep interested and engaged make the worst. Sometimes you do just need to rant about work to or talk about something stupid with someone. I'm glad Ian and Alison can be that person for each other.

I also think Ian's paths with Holly and Lena are quite good. I like that they're both artists like him who get the struggles and the joys inherent to the creative process. Ian seems to be really good for Holly: he helps build up her confidence and make her feel more secure in herself. As for Lena and Ian, they're in a unique position to understand one another because they are in such similar places in life. They're both creative, financially struggling millennials with hearts wounded by betrayal. They couldn't hope to find a better person to understand them better and help them heal...it's almost as if they're bound together by the red string of fate or some stupid nonsense like that. The awkward thing about pairing Ian and Lena is that the player controls both of them so it feels a bit like you're just making the dolls kiss. Still, it's a well-written route, and sometimes playing with dolls can be fun.

There's a real shortage of romantic Lena paths as I've mentioned before. I play her route with Louise and have always liked their dynamic together, but even their route has become strangely more about BDSM than anything else. I wanted them to help each other heal after they'd both been hurt so badly by their previous partners in similar ways, but it feels more like they're just having fun with each other even though Louise would like more. There tends to be lots of hot and casual sex on Lena's routes but very little in the way of feelings particularly on Lena's side. Sometimes it feels to me like she's fated to have to face all her problems alone no matter how many lovers she picks up along the way. I haven't played a Lena-Holly path yet so I'm still a bit hopeful for it, and I could never bring myself to put her back with Axel since that seems like a straight-up abusive relationship.

That early chapter event where Alison visits the first time, Alison is right though. The gang is not "driven", at least not conventionally. Nothing wrong with that but like, Perry is just chilling, Wade is just chilling, Ian is trying to pursuit his passion because he has a fallback option from his parent, Emma is in-between jobs. Like legit the only person trying to "make it" is Allison, lol. And she got screwed because her previous workplace was not good.

I sympathize with her take the most on that event.

 

[realjitter]

It's interesting to read how differently people percieve the game and it's characters. It's been like 6 months since i've read it so my memory is a little fuzzy when it comes to all the details of it. But it's interesting that camube plays this game as "him". I don't know, for me in order to make that work Ian would had to be a blank character. No inner thoughts, no existing relationships, no nothing basically. And even then....

 

[Arisushi]

In order to keep my playtime genuinely engaging (without going too porny or too boring), I just follow one rule.

I play both Ian and Lena as two nice-to-boot, straightforward and sexually active characters.

- They're kind to others, and (most) always do the right thing.
- They're open for a casual relationship and love some good sex. But not at the cost of their own dignity.
- They like each other, but don't know if there is enough to truly commit to the relationship. Nor are they in any pressure to do so.

With this as the core, I just let my momentary whims play out depending on the mood I'm in.

Usually, I find myself ending up with these pairings:

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---

Lastly, here are some potential routes that might interest me (IF Eva kiss chooses to go for a grounded story-telling with those routes):

Spoiler

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[camube]

It's interesting to read how differently people percieve the game and it's characters. It's been like 6 months since i've read it so my memory is a little fuzzy when it comes to all the details of it. But it's interesting that camube plays this game as "him". I don't know, for me in order to make that work Ian would had to be a blank character. No inner thoughts, no existing relationships, no nothing basically. And even then....

yeah Our Red String is one of those rare games where I do that.
Cuz it's basically a Choose Your Own Adventure. And by that I mean many level above normal AVN games. As in, we don't just "choose paths" like in the standard AVN games, our choices shaped Ian's personality, and Lena's too.

The very first choice we had to choose was:
Offer Help
Cheer Her Up
or She's So Hot

where at that point, as a reader, I don't know who "Ian" is yet.
Who is Ian? lol

and then not long after that, on Perry's question about whether Ian has meet someone new, it was:
Deflect
Refuse to answer
or Straight Answer

On Our Red String, our choices shapes Ian into a different person.
Ian Version A based on whatever choices and Ian Version B based on other choices is not the same Ian.
I don't see it as the same Ian.

Evakiss said her inspiration for GGGB was Mass Effect. Which also was a game where I played as if I'm Shepard.
In Mass Effect it's actually more binary, where Paragon Shepard is not the same with Renegade Shepard.
But our choices a player shape the Mass Effect world.

In other games I usually take a third-party observer perspective.

The world where Ian rekt Cindy and Wade's relationship is not the same world where Ian leave them alone.
How Lena choose to act towards Holly also affects whether Holly becomes sexually more open or not.

So yeah, it's really rare that I play that way because there aren't that many games I found where our MC's personality changes their world's makeup.

Most games, whether it's AVN or Japanese VN, it's more of a "which path do you want to see?"
I have my preferences as a reader which path I want to see first sure but, I don't really answer VN questions based on "me" as a person. Not often.

Yeah anyway, ORS is actually a good game as game. Because it's interesting and engaging to actually play.
GGGB is wilder, but I like ORS better.
GGGB was wild though. Can't overstate how wild some path of GGGB was. lol.

 

[jufot]

I play both Ian and Lena as two nice-to-boot, straightforward and sexually active characters.

A man after my own heart! I like your justification for Cindy. I'm really looking forward to the eventual blowout

You're also the second strong recommendation for Allison, which is definitely my next playthrough.

 

[Arisushi]

A man after my own heart! I like your justification for Cindy. I'm really looking forward to the eventual blowout

You're also the second strong recommendation for Allison, which is definitely my next playthrough.

Looking forward to hear your take on her route when the time comes

(Yup, definitely excited to witness the blowout )

 

[realjitter]

GGGB was wild though. Can't overstate how wild some path of GGGB was. lol.

Arthur anyone?=). But that's like another thing I like about the developer. He/she really goes through with all his storylines. There's no half assing anything. When you play the , admittingly fucked up, Arthur route, Ash and Arthur embrace their depravity and ultimately fall for each other in their own twisted ways. Same goes for all the other routes i've played. The developer treats all his/her storylines serious enough to not just end up being simple porn expositions which is interesting and also makes it easier for me to play all these routes.